"The Nature of Continuity and
Discontinuity of Ghanaian Pentecostal Concept of Salvation in African Cosmology"

By

Rev. Dr.
Emmanuel Kingsley Larbi

Introduction

Though the mainline historic churches have been operating in
Ghana since the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was only at the
beginning of the 20th century that evangelical Pentecostalism began
to register its presence. In spite of this late arrival, it is now by far the
most important religious trend in Ghana today. The Pentecostals form the bulk
of the Christian population of 62 per cent in Ghana. It is also noteworthy that
the largest Protestant church in the country is a Pentecostal denomination,
The Church of Pentecost. Why has the growth of the Pentecostal churches
outstripped the mainline denominations, which have been operating in the country
for over two hundred years? This article attempts to address this and other
related issues.

From the human perspective, the single significant factor
that has given rise to a boom in Pentecostal activities in Ghana is that
Pentecostalism has found a fertile ground in the all-pervasive primal religious
traditions, especially in its cosmology and in its concept of salvation.

Field has underscored the irrepressible nature of the ideas
underpinning the primal religion, when she said that:

… though it is not difficult by
warfare, foreign administration, modern industry and other means, to smash up an
ancient religious organisation, the ideas which sustained it are not easily
destroyed. They are only disbanded, vagrant and unattached. But given
sufficient sense of need, they will mobilise again.1

Field's
observation, among other things, underscores the resilient nature of the
traditional religious ideas of the people which the European colonisers and the
Christianisation agencies encountered. These ideas have continued to influence
the people’s perception and understanding of salvation.

The Akan people of Ghana form the largest ethnic group in the
country. The core of the religious ideas of the Akan people could be equally
applicable to the various ethnic groups in Ghana, and
indeed the fundamentals of the traditional African perception of reality as a
whole. I will thereforeuse their traditional religious ideas as a springboard in our
attempt to examine the primal understanding of salvation of the people of Ghana.2

The Akan World View

What is the Akan primal understanding of the nature of the
universe and what do they consider to be the highest good of man, that is,
salvation? How is salvation perceived and appropriated? What is the
religious and linguistic meaning of salvation in the traditional Akan worldview?
We will attempt to address these questions in the following section.

Central to the Akan religious ideas is the belief in the
multiplicity of spirits in the universe. The Akan cosmos, like other African
peoples, is divided into “two inter-penetrating and inseparable, yet
distinguishable, parts”3,
namely, the world of spirits and the world of human. The Akan understanding of
the spirit world conveniently falls within Parrinder’s fourfold classification
of categories within West African religions, namely, the Supreme God, divinities
or gods, ancestors, and charms or amulets.4The
Supreme Being is variously referred to as Onyankopon, Onyame (also spelt,
Nyame), or Odomankoma.5Onyame implies the basic idea of Deity as understood in Christian theology.
Onyankopon denotes the supremacy of God, the One Greater Nyame. Odomankoma,
denotes the Infiniteness of Nyame. Next to Onyame is Asase Yaa,
the earth goddess, who is responsible for fertility. Asase Yaa, in some sense,
is also the “custodian of morality and social decorum, the traditional ethical
code”.6
In addition to Asase Yaa, there is a host of divinities or gods (abosom),
capricious spirit entities, believed to be the children of God. These nature
spirits are of three categories: state gods, family or clan gods, and gods of
the medicine man. Some of the most famous gods are associated with lakes,
rivers, rocks, mountains and forests. The continued featuring of a particular
god (obosom) in the religious pantheon of the Akan largely depends upon
the ability of that obosom to function to the satisfaction of
supplicants. The Akan esteem the Supreme Being and the ancestors far above the
abosom (gods) and amulets. Attitudes to the latter depend upon their
success, and vary from healthy respect to sneering contempt and rejection.

The Akan never confuse the identity of Onyame and the
identity of the abosom. The abosom can be discarded whereas
Onyame cannot. Johannes Chris taller, who devoted a considerable amount of
effort to study the Akan language, had to conclude that the Akan, presumed by
outsiders to be polytheists, were “to a great extent rather monotheist [since]
they apply the term for God only to one supreme being”.7
Patrick Ryan makes the same important observation in his article on the
distinction of God from gods by the Yoruba and the Akan. He concluded that
before the advent of the European missionaries, the Akan and Yoruba held to the
absolute uniqueness of the Supreme God. He writes:

Finally, it should be noted, in the
process of dismantling the category of ‘God and the gods’ in West Africa, that
both the Yoruba and Akan populations of West Africa are better equipped
linguistically than are Semites, Greeks, Romans and their inheritors to press
the absolute uniqueness of God. There is no need for Olodumare (Olorun) or
Onyame (Onyankopon) to arise above the “other gods”, as Psalm 82 bids Him. It
would seem, in fact, that even before Muslims and Christians arrived in the West
African forest zone, ... speakers of Yoruba and Akan were assured of supremacy
of the One Whom a modern theologian calls “the incomprehensible term of human
transcendence.”8

The
ancestral cult is one of the strongholds within the religious universe of the
Akan. This has been made possible because of the Akan understanding of humans
and the community. Since survival of humans and their community is dependent
upon the help given by the ancestors and the divinities, how humans relate to
the spirit force is crucial to his well-being.

The idea of
the cosmic struggle is strong in the Akan understanding of the nature of the
universe. For one to be able to fulfil his or her aspirations in life, requires
the “balance of power” in favour of the supplicant. This “tilting of cosmic
power” for one’s own benefit or for the benefit of his or her community, is what
I have referred to as “maintaining the cosmological balance”.

Maintaining the Cosmological
Balance

Within the world of humans are found men and women who
manipulate the spirit force for evil purposes. These are the akaberekyerefo
and adutofo (charmers, enchanters and sorcerers), and abayifo
(witches). The activities of these forces are directed against humankind. It is
within this context that charms and amulets play their role. The forces of evil
are always at work against human beings in order to prevent them from enjoying
abundant life, or fulfilling their nkrabea (destiny). The central focus
of the religious exercises of homo sapiens is therefore the harnessing of
power inherent in the spirit force for his or her own advantage. To the Akan,
just like other African peoples, whatever happens to the human being has a
religious interpretation. To them, behind the physical is the spiritual; behind
the seen is the unseen. Every event here on earth is traceable to a supernatural
source in the spirit realm. From the same source, therefore, lies the ultimate
succour.

It is the foregoing picture that colours the perception and
appropriation of salvation of the Akan. Herein lies the ultimate goal of their
religious pursuits.

The Akan Primal Religion and the
Search for Salvation

As one critically examines the prayers of the Akan in the
traditional religious setting, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that
the overriding concern is the enjoyment of nkwa (life). This is not life
in abstraction but rather life in its concrete and fullest manifestations. It
means the enjoyment of long life, vitality, vigour, and health; it means life of
happiness and felicity.[9]Nkwa also includes the enjoyment of ahonyade, (possessions;
prosperity), that is, wealth, riches, and substance,[10]including children. Nkwa also embodies
asomdwei, that is, a life of peace and tranquillity, and life free from
perturbation.[11]

The religious person is well aware that much as he or she
works hard to experience nkwa in its full manifestations, there comes an
overwhelming realisation of the fact that there are powerful forces that are
fighting against the individual and his or her community. Abundant life
can only become available to him or her through the mediation of the spirit
beings –
divinities and the ancestors. Unto these beings, therefore, the supplicant
constantly lifts up his or her eyes in an expectation of divine aid. The
following sample of a traditional prayer, normally said by the head of family
during an occasion like New Year or Christmas, is illustrative of this
motif.

Almighty God here is drink; Earth
god here is drink; Great ancestors come and have a drink. .... We are not
calling you because of some evil tidings. The year has come again and you did
not allow any evil to befall us. We are offering you drink; beseeching that the
coming year will be prosperous. Don’t allow any evil to come near our
habitation. Bless us with rain, food, children, health and prosperity.[12]

Rattray gives
us another example from the prayers of an Ashanti king at an annual festival:

The
edges of the years have met, I pray for life.

May the nation prosper.

May the women bear
children.

May the hunters kill
meat.

We who dig for gold, let us get
gold to dig, and grant that I get some for the upkeep of my kingship.[13]

These
prayers, like many other prayers found among the various ethnic groups of Ghana,
illustrate the concerns of the Akan and the need for vital power which subsists
in the Supreme Being and the non-human spirit entities.

There was no self-abnegation in the
king’s prayer. He called for power, life, prosperity, fertility, success, and
wealth. The vitality of West African religion may have been one reason why
Afro-American slaves were able to survive capture, brutal transport to the
Americas, slavery –
and still keep dancing.[14]

The ultimate end of one’s existence is the enjoyment of
multifaceted nkwa but it is also clear from one’s experience that left to
the individual alone, it will only remain an illusory dream for the obvious fact
that there are some forces, fighting hard to remove nkwa from his reach.

The uncertainties and anxieties one faces range from those
which originate from the day to day problems of life to those which are born of
the fear of evil spirits and malicious persons, witches and sorcerers. To
maintain and reactivate the protective presence of the benevolent divine force,
the individual and his community must of necessity maintain the cosmological
balance through protective and preventive rites. These rites are designed to
cleanse the tribe, the clan, the family and the individual, and to secure the
much-needed protection from the spirit force. Protective rites immunise
potential victims from abayifo (witches), akaberekyerefo and
asumantufo (sorcerers, charmers and bad medicine men) and evil spirits on
the one hand; on the other, purificatory rites remove the danger-radiating
pollution, which would ordinarily destroy the personhood of the individual
concerned, and thus prevent him or her from fully participating in nkwa.
The ancestral rites seem to fulfil both protective and purificatory categories.
The ancestors are both appeased in case they are offended, and petitioned to
support as well as protect their descendants.

The societal equilibrium is thus maintained and preserved
through the purificatory and protective rites and the observance of certain
prescribed taboos. Violations of these demands may cause serious consequences to
the individual, his family or an entire community. The individual realises
that, in spite of the constant efforts he or she makes in order to bring meaning
into his life, things do go wrong. When this happens, those involved go
to abisa (consultation with the shrine priest). The intention is
to contact the spirit force in the spirit realm to find out what might have
caused the problem. It is through the abisa[15]that one is able to remove what would likely
prevent the person from enjoying nkwa, which embodies ahonya,
(wealth) asomdwei (peace and tranquillity). It is to the religious
specialist, the diviner, that one goes for abisa. One needs to know the
forces behind the problems or the factors that might have occasioned his or her
woes. This information is relevant to the individual in order to be able to
arrest the situation. The information one obtains from the diviner may require
that he or she performs some protective rites to secure protection against one’s
enemies. It may also require that some purificatory rites be performed in order
to appease the ancestors or the divinities for some particular reason.

Some purificatory and protective rites may be very elaborate
and expensive. These expensive cases particularly involve matters that have been
taken to the court of the gods in seeking for vengeance or vindication. The
more powerful the particular deities are, the more expensive and elaborate the
processes for disentanglement. In spite of the costs, victims do everything
possible to raise the required money for it. If, for one reason or the other,
one fails to do this, the “curse”, it is believed, will still be hanging over
the upcoming generations of the family. This ancestral yoke will remain in the
family until a relative eventually removes it. It is only then that nkwa
could become theirs.

The Akan Terms for Salvation

The main Twi term for salvation is nkwagye. It
is made up of two words: nkwa and gye. Nkwa, as we
indicated above, means vital life, vitality, vigour, health, happiness and
felicity. In short, nkwa means abundant life, that is, “life in all its
fullness”. Gye has several meanings.[16]But when used in the salvific sense it means to:
rescue, retake, recapture, redeem, ransom, buy out of servitude or penalty; it
also means to release, to free, to deliver, to liberate, to save. It could also
mean: to lead, to conduct, to guide, to take along with; or to protect, to
defend; or to preserve.[17]
The term nkwa-gye therefore is pregnant with rich meaning. Among other
things, it means the “liberation or preservation of abundant life” or the
“saving of abundant life”. It is the liberation and preservation of life and
all that goes with it.

The nkwagyefo (the one who saves) therefore is the one
who saves and preserves one’s life. The related terms are synonymous nouns
agyenkwa and ogyefo. It means the rescuer, saviour, redeemer, and
deliverer. Whether used in reference to a deity or to a human being, it conveys
the same meaning of deliverance. For example, in a situation where the timely
intervention of a person prevented a catastrophe or something unfavourable from
happening, that person could be said to have become ogyefo or agyenkwa in
that particular instance.

The term agyenkwa and its cognates, therefore, convey
concrete realities. The agyenkwa is a powerful one, otherwise he cannot
rescue and protect one from the powerful malevolent spirit beings: the abayifo,
akaberekyerefo, adutofo and the awudifo (wicked ones). He saves from
danger and all perilous conditions. The agyenkwa places one in the “realm
of the protected ones” and offers banbo (security). The agyenkwa
rescues one out from situations considered inimical, injurious, or life
threatening. The agyenkwa saves, protects, and preserves life.

The saviour rescues both from danger and continues to protect
the “rescued one” from danger, and makes it possible for one to experience
nkwa, that is, life in all its fullness, which embodies ahonyade and
asomdwei. It is in this vein that Mercy Oduyoye could state that the:

... Agyenkwa means the one who
rescues, who holds your life in safety, takes you out of a life-denying
situation and places you in a life affirming one. The Rescuer plucks you from a
dehumanising ambience and places you in a position where you can grow toward
authentic humanity. The Agyenkwa gives you back your life in all its fullness.[18]

In the foregoing considerations of the Akan concept of
salvation, I have stated that salvation has to do with concrete realities,
things one can identify with in the day-to-day life. It has to do with physical
and immediate dangers that militate against individual or communal survival and
enjoyment of nkwa, that is, life in all its fullness. It embodies
ahonyade (good health, general prosperity and safety and security); it also
embodies asomdwei (the state of being which radiates peace and
tranquillity). This is the general context within which salvation is perceived
and appropriated. It is this worldview that Christianity encountered.

Pentecostal
Christianity and the Search for Salvation

What then is the understanding of the concept of salvation in
the religious consciousness of Pentecostals? It may be stated that though when
the Pentecostals talk of “salvation”, they are talking primarily in terms of the
atonement, forgiveness of sin, and reconciliation with God, yet by their
practices, they are reaching out to things that go beyond the “born again”
experience, to an experience that permeates their here and now life, and also
promises them of a better tomorrow in the hereafter.[19]
Evidence available indicates that suppliants attend Pentecostal prayer camps
primarily in search of salvation that relate to the here and now. Supplicants’
concerns include the need for healing; financial and economic problems; problems
related to marriages, children, employment, family needs; some go there because
of lawsuits; others go there because they are struggling with drunkenness and
they want to overcome it; some go there because of educational issues; they go
there because of accommodation needs: a place to lay their heads; some go there
because of the problem of bad or frightful dreams; some have problems with
demonic and witchcraft attacks; others go there because of social expectations,
particularly the need to provide for their families. But this is not all. Some
supplicants, in addition to their material needs, seek “spiritual upliftment”.
This category of suppliants seeks prayer so that they can move beyond the
experience of nominal Christianity to a devoted and committed Christian life.

These are the day-to-day needs of real people, men and women,
old and young, rich and poor, literate and illiterate. When these people pray or
ask for prayers, they are reaching out to God, in search of “salvation”. Through
these Pentecostal churches and their healing centres many claim to have received
salvation to otherwise hopeless situations. For
these people, the concept of salvation cannot be divorced from their existential
needs. The “Saviour” in this sense, is not only the one that saves them from the
curse and the blight of sin (though this is their starting point), He is also
the one who supremely helps them in their day-to-day existential needs.

Since it appears that the overriding concern of majority of
suppliants is mainly for things related to the existential here and now, one may
be tempted to conclude that African Christians are not conscious of redemption
from sin as Mbiti seems to suggest:

Even if the question of sin
features a great deal in missionary or historical churches, it is highly
doubtful that African Christians understand its centrality in the New Testament
teaching about the atonement and redemption. A great deal of what is said about
being ‘saved from sin’ is simply a parrot-type indoctrination from the bringers
of the Christian message. Converts appreciate more deliverance from the physical
evils than anything else that would be in the nature of spiritual or moral
depravity. Again this comes out clearly in the catechisms, hymns and prayers
produced by the independent churches, where Christians do not feel so much under
pressure to conform to missionary expectations. Yet in no way should these
statements mean that African Christians are not conscious of redemption from
sin; rather they are more conscious of physical deliverance than of spiritual,
even if the same saves then in both situations.[20]

Mbiti’s observation, valid as it may be in some respects,
does not fully account for the African experience, or at least the evidence I
have with the Church of Pentecost (COP), the International Central Gospel Church
(ICGC), and the prayer groups I studied. It may be said that because of the
African’s holistic orientation to reality, and more so because of economic,
social, and political upheavals that perennially plague the continent of Africa,
material concerns play a very important role in his religious consciousness, and
in African perceptions of the role of the “saviour” in this regard. However, to
assert that Africans are not conscious of redemption from sin seems rather
incongruous. Mbiti himself seems to have later realised this when in 1986 he
wrote that:

… while some African Christians,
including many in the independent churches, put great emphasis on the physical
saving acts of Jesus, such as those recorded in the gospels, we must not
limit the African understanding to the physical level of life. There are many
who also put great emphasis on the Cross of Jesus and its saving grace.
Perhaps the best example of this is the East African Revival Movement.... Nobody
can deny that through the channels of the Revival Movement, people are
appropriating biblical salvation, which makes sense to their lives and satisfies
their yearnings. The concentration here is more on Jesus and his Cross, and less
on his other activities prior to the Cross. The revival also takes up the life
of the believer after death, so that it holds firmly that the Christian goes
immediately to be with the Lord in heaven.[21]

The interviews we conducted and the questionnaires we
administered to several church members and church leaders within the COP, ICGC
and others, suggested that the biblical concept of the original sin is very
clear among the classic Pentecostals and also among those neo-Pentecostal
leaders who have their roots in classic Pentecostalism, or the Scripture Union.
When we asked our respondents the question: What is your understanding of terms
like “Jesus saves”, “there is salvation in Jesus”, “you need salvation”,
almost all of them suggested as the first point the issue of original sin, the
depravity of the human nature, and reconciliation that comes through the
atonement of Jesus Christ. The material and physical aspects of “salvation” were
most invariably suggested as secondary. In fact, Bishop Owusu Tabiri (one of the
contemporary healing evangelists in Ghana) for instance, in spite of his concern
with the health and the economic and social well being of his suppliants,
necessarily anchors the suppliants in the doctrine of sin and the atonement.
This may be due to the fact that Owusu Tabiri came from classic Pentecostalism.

My investigations revealed that some, when they heard the
Gospel preached to them, understood the issue of original sin and the
need for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. However, because of their
life experiences, what really attracted them to join the Church was the concrete
and material help that Jesus provides in the here and now. It was later on that
they fully appreciated and embraced teachings on the original sin and the
atonement.

Mbiti’s
observation is relevant for us here:

Often in the New Testament,
individuals are physically saved first by Jesus and through the acts of the
apostles. Only later does the spiritual dimension of their salvation surface and
grow. But this need not be the order of sequence since God’s grace is not
confined to one method, and the experience of Paul on the road to Damascus is a
clear illustration of the reversal of this sequence. Indeed many African
Christians came to the Christian message of salvation, which speaks first about
spiritual matters and only later, or not at all, about physical welfare in their
lives. .... What is important here is to consider salvation in holistic terms.
... Only when one is expressed at the expense of the other, a distortion of
biblical salvation ensues and one part of man is virtually excluded and starved
out.[22]

Pentecostal Concept of Salvation:
Continuity and Discontinuity with the Primal World View

My consideration of the issue of salvation in this paper has
been based on my conviction that Pentecostalism, like every religion, is about
salvation, no matter how this term is understood in various religious
communities. For indeed, the

Search for Salvation is recorded in
the very dynamism of the human mind, indeed it appears as the fundamental and
universal aspect of it.... Whatever else religion may or may not be, it is
essentially a reaching forward to the ideal of salvation.[23]

My findings support the thesis that in the primal religion
the followers are reaching out to a form of salvation that relates to the
existential here and now. Their concept of salvation embodies the enjoyment
of long life, vitality, vigour, and health; a life of happiness and felicity;
the enjoyment of prosperity: that is, wealth, riches, and substance, including
children; life of peace, tranquillity; and life free from perturbation. The
concept of salvation in the primal world is single-faceted, relating solely to
the here and now. There is no concept of heaven tomorrow.

With regard to the Pentecostals, I have indicated that they
have a dual faceted conception of salvation, incorporating “this-worldliness”,
and “other-worldliness”. In spite of this dual concept of salvation, the
salvation of soul plays a central role in their scheme of salvation.
The experience of “soul salvation” not only prepares the “redeemed ones” for the
“celestial city” in the hereafter, but also, it is perceived as the key to
abundant life or salvation today.

Both classic Pentecostals’ and neo-Pentecostals’ concept of
salvation today embodies the enjoyment of prosperity, which includes
wealth, health and fertility. Herein lies the continuity between the primal
concept of salvation and that of the Pentecostals. Though the neo-Pentecostal
movement is largely an offshoot of classic Pentecostalism, in spite of differing
emphases, there is no essential difference between the two groups’ conception of
salvation, whether in the here and now or in the hereafter. It
must however be noted that though the primal understanding of salvation today is
the same as the Pentecostals’ conception of salvation, the way salvation is
sought in the two realms are different. Whereas in the primal world salvation is
sought through traditional forms of supernatural succour, which include the
divinities, the mediatorial role of the ancestors, and the use of charms and
amulets, the Pentecostals are uncompromisingly hostile to these traditional
forms of succour. They look to the Christian God as the only and ultimate
supernatural succour. What cannot be found through the traditional forms of
supernatural succour is now available to them in Christ. By virtue of the
superior power of Christ in salvific encounters, He is perceived as the
matchless and incomparable One. He is thus considered as superior to the
traditional pantheon: the local divinities, the ancestral cult, witches, charms
and amulets, and all other forms of magical power. He is not one among many;
rather, He is the One above all. He is thus the central focus of the Pentecostal
spirituality, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, among other things is
perceived as the Enabler. Through Him the saints are able to fully fulfil their
witness to Christ both in word and in deed. The Holy Spirit is thus not the
central focus of Ghanaian Pentecostal spirituality. At least among the classic
Pentecostals, and those groups whose leaders had their upbringing within the
context of classic Pentecostalism, and the Scripture Union. The evidence may be
different among some of the newly emerged fringe groups within the
neo-Pentecostal movement.

Pentecostals see a sharp distinction between all forms of
traditional spirit possession (be it ancestral spirit possession or possession
by the local divinities which is normally accompanied by the supernatural
ability to speak a language that is not normally spoken by the possessed) and
“Holy Spirit possession”. The former is categorically condemned as demonic
power.
Their concern for biblical truth causes them to reject outright all forms of
association, which appear to be an antithetical to biblical orthodoxy. It is
for this reason that the exorcising of the traditional past becomes central to
the evangelistic activities of the deliverance apostles within
neo-Pentecostalism.

The Pentecostals’ critical and condemnatory stand against the
Spiritual churches and those within the historic churches, who patronise the
secret societies like the Free Masons, is influenced by the sharp distinction
they draw between the Holy Spirit and “familiar spirits”. They see the Name and
the Blood of Christ and the Word of God as efficient and sufficient for
salvation. Hence they insist, “There shall be no burning of candles and
incense for prayer; no special fire; no incantations, nor the use of special
names of Angels, except the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”[24]

The charge made by Oosthuizen that “the most difficult
theological problem in Africa, namely, the confusion that exists with regard to
the ancestral spirits and the Holy Spirit” could therefore not be sustained in
the Ghanaian situation in so far as the Pentecostals are concerned.[25]
Neither can they be charged that the “traditional beliefs about possession by an
ancestral spirit ... have been transferred to the idea of being filled with the
Holy Spirit”.[26]

The story of the incarnation is thus their good news of
salvation from fear of evil spirits, from sickness and disease, from economic
and social deprivation, from ignorance of who they are, and, above all,
salvation from total and complete alienation from the Father of all flesh: God.
In this understanding, they see themselves in an exalted position in Christ.[27]

The Roots of
Pentecostalism’s Concept of Salvation

The two main sources of influence for the Pentecostals’
concept of salvation are the Bible and the primal worldview. The cornerstone of
Pentecostal theological self-understanding is the Bible. Pentecostals believe
the Bible to be God’s Word and therefore inerrant. “The Bible is infallible in
its declarations, final in its authority, all sufficient in its provisions and
comprehensive in its sufficiency”.[28]
The Pentecostals believe “the whole Bible - both Old and New Testaments, is the
pure Word that cannot be changed, added to, or taken away from, without terrific
consequences”.[29]

Though the Pentecostals believe that the Word of God was
first given in particular historical contexts they are resolute in insisting on
its eternal relevance. Old Testament and New Testament promises to the Jews and
the early Christians for their material well being (e.g., Deut. 28: 1-15;
30:9-10); Malachi 3: 8ff; and Luke 6:38; 3 John 2; Mark 16) are thus literally
appropriated by Pentecostals. For them, the gap between the original receptors
of the Divine self-disclosure and contemporary readers is bridged through the
agency of the Holy Spirit, the Supreme Biblical Teacher.[30]

The
Pentecostal presupposition of biblical infallibility and biblical literalism
finds its logical conclusion in what may be considered as a dualistic world
view: a spiritual universe in which the devil and his fallen angels are
constantly at enmity with God and His holy angels. Human beings are grouped into
two in this cosmic arena: those who belong to God and those who belong to the
devil. Pentecostals do not see any “demilitarised zone”. You either belong to
the “kingdom of light” or the “kingdom of darkness”.

Spirit-filled believers, thus, are God’s army in the
terrestrial realm. The redemption of the rest of humankind is entrusted into
their hands. They are to take the message to the unsaved; set the captives free,
cast out demons from their human tenements, take dominion over the
principalities, authorities and powers, heal the sick and raise the dead. Signs
and wonders should necessarily follow the preaching of the gospel, thus
confirming the veracity of the Bible. The signs that followed the early
disciples are believed to be as valid now as then. Signs and wonders must of
necessity follow believers today as they obediently testify to Christ. It is in
this encounter that the gifts of the Holy Spirit become more significant.

For Pentecostals, the authority of the Word of God does not
so much rest in its historicity as in its source, though the former nonetheless
is considered important. The Word of God is Authoritative, or Powerful
not because of its historical validity, but because it is the very words of
the most powerful Deity, the God among gods, and Lord among lords. It is
because God is “All-Powerful”, and the “God of Miracles”, that the Pentecostals
believe His Word has potential power, for it carries Divine authority. Their
belief is thus in consonance with the affirmation that:

The Bible is not simply an
historical book about the people of Israel: through a re-reading of this
scripture in the social context of our struggle for our humanity, God speaks to
us in the midst of our troublesome situation. This divine Word is not an
abstract proposition but an event in our lives, empowering us to continue in the
fight for our full humanity.[31]

The Roots of Primal Conception of
Salvation

The primal cosmology and the primal view of life are the main
factors here. The primal cosmology postulates external hostile agencies more
powerful than man. Man sees himself as constantly exposed to the influences of
evil supernaturalism. In the terrestrial realm are found men and women who
manipulate the spirit force in the celestial realm for evil purposes. The
activities of charmers, enchanters, sorcerers, poisoners, and witches are
directed against man in order to prevent him from enjoying abundant life, or to
prevent him from fulfilling his nkrabea (destiny). The central focus of
his religious exercises is thus directed towards the harnessing of power
inherent in the spirit force for his own advantage. The concept of power thus
reigns supreme in this spirit-filled universe. Every event here on earth is thus
traceable to a supernatural power in the spirit realm. From the same
source therefore recourse is made for the ultimate succour of man.

It is from this background that salvation is defined and
experienced. In the religious encounter between Pentecostalism and Akan religion
this perception of reality became integral in the proclamation of the gospel.
For Pentecostals (including the trained scientist and the illiterate peasant),
these forces are real. They are not just the figments of the imaginations of the
ignorant. The cosmic struggle is accepted as real because the Bible, they argue,
presents the phenomenon as real, not just because the traditional culture admits
this to be so.

Religion and World View

In S.G.
Williamson's comparative study of Christianity and Akan Religion, he
argued that the church established by the western missionaries made some
considerable gains both in propagating the Christian religion and in acting as a
social and cultural force, yet it was not able to speak directly to the people
in religiously convincing terms. It therefore failed to meet the spiritual need
at the level at which the Akan experiences it. He argues that the western
mission related church, by and large, is still an alien institution. It failed
to root itself in the life and institutions of the Akan people in that:

The Christian church
denominationally implanted from the west, has substantially retained its
original forms and expressed itself in western modes. Missionaries clearly set
out to establish, not an Akan Church, but the Church they represented in the
homeland. The polity and organisation, the liturgies and devotional
expressions, the discipline and instruction, the total outlook derives directly
from the parent Missionary Societies and the Churches supporting them. The
Christianity of the Akan area proves to be the denominational Christianity of
the west.[32]

Williamson continues that:

… by the assault of the missionary
enterprise on traditional beliefs and practices, and by the nature and method of
its approach, the implanted Christian faith denied the Akan outlook in fierce
and abrupt terms, and thus failed to meet the Akan in his personally experienced
religious need. The Akan became a Christian by cleaving to the new order
introduced by the missionary rather than by working out his salvation within the
traditional religious milieu.[33]

Williamson’s critique, like that of many other writers,
raises several significant issues. The heart of it all is the issue of the
relationship between Christianity and culture. At the heart of every culture
lies the worldview: how people perceive, understand, and interpret reality.
Every culture has within its religious system certain practices directed towards
the achievement of what is considered the highest good.

The missionaries came from a continent with a history of
slave trade and colonial imperial expansion and domination. Christianity, dubbed
the “White man’s religion”, was associated with a superior culture. The term
“Christian” became synonymous with civilization and development. The agents of
the proselytisation process were conscious at that time of its developing
technology and of its cultural achievements. Baeta rightly observes that:

The fact that the evangelists and
their hearers belonged to such glaringly racial types; the fact that their
cultural backgrounds were so different; the unfortunate associations of the
colour black in European superstition; the Slave Trade, with Europeans being
always owners and Africans always the owned; … the fact that the majority of
missionaries to our parts were connected with the movement known as Pietism;
these and such-like factors determined the policy, which was adopted by all
missions practically without exception, of non-amalgamation with, and aloofness
from African culture.[34]

The western mission agencies coming from post enlightenment,
rationalistic background approached the missionary task from this ideological
frame of mind. For many in the receptor culture, Christianity was not accepted
for its religious value. Rather, it was seen as:

… a religion which offered material
blessings. To learn to read, to learn something of the ability of the European
to control his environment and to evolve a superior material culture, factors,
which to the African were bound with the white man’s worship of Christ, operated
as strong motives for announcing oneself as a baptismal candidate.[35]

The attitude of the missionaries and their African disciples
towards the Akan primal worldview and the Akan culture was one of negation, a
denial of the validity of supernatural powers. For example, the Gold Coast
Christian Council pamphlet on witchcraft postulated a position that the
phenomenon of witchcraft was not a reality but a psychological delusion. The
Council also relegated Tigare cult to the realm of trickery.[36]

The denial of the existence of the spirit-force (witches,
sorcerers, fetishes, magic, charms and the local deities) in the missionary
enterprise radically undermined the work of the missions. In the process, they
ended up producing “two-world” Christians with double allegiance, as Asamoah
observes:

Anybody who knows African
Christians intimately will know that no amount of denial on the part of the
Church will expel belief in supernatural powers from the minds of the Christian,
and he becomes a hypocrite who in official church circles pretends to give the
impression that he does not believe in these things, while in his own private
life he resorts to practices which are the results of such beliefs.[37]

Recognition of the malevolent spirit-entities, while at the
same time proclaiming the supremacy of the All-Powerful Benevolent Christ, might
have produced Christians who, though they would not deny the existence of
several evil forces and the effects of their activities on the well-being of
man, would set the whole cosmic struggle in the context of the supremacy of
Christ. This approach would have affected the worldview of the Akan “from the
centre”, thereby influencing his entire religious outlook.

Religion, by its nature and purpose, should be holistic:
addressing the total needs of the total person: spiritual, physical, and
emotional, providing authentic answers for the person’s everyday quests, fears,
and anxieties. If a particular religious system fails to address what the people
feel that their whole existence and survival hinge on, that system is bound to
be jettisoned when the people are confronted with the real issues of life. For
example we read, as far back as 1632, that the European priest at Elmina
lamented that:

Edina [Elmina] had its own pagan
priest to whom the people gave full confidence ... he was even consulted by many
so-called Christians, in secret of course, ... placing more confidence in him
than in their Catholic priests.[38]

The situation described above did not change during
subsequent centuries. For example, we are told that Tigare caused
“serious headaches to the Churches - often more than half of the congregation
following the new cult”.[39]

In the Pentecostal proclamation, therefore Jesus is placed at
the centre of the cosmic struggle. The Son of God is presented as the Osahene
(Field Marshal) who “has disarmed principalities, and powers”, and has “made
public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).
The Champion of the cosmos has enabled the redeemed to be “seated with Him in
the heavenly places far above the principalities, authorities and powers”
(Ephesians 2:6).

The success of the Pentecostals therefore, lies in their
ability to place the traditional understanding of the cosmic struggle in the
realm of Christian belief. The stand taken by the Pentecostals is thus the
antithesis of the stand, which was taken by the emissaries of the historic
churches who assumed the position that these forces were non-existent, much to
the dismay of the majority of their followers. Although Pentecostals “have an
uncompromising attitude towards traditional religion, which they depict as ...
diabolical”,[40]
yet the traditional concept of salvation appears to have been a praeparatio
evangelica to the Pentecostal conception of salvation. Pentecostals have
taken the issue of material prosperity to the realm of Divine blessings. The
traditional African understanding of salvation and the biblical motif about
God’s desire to intervene to rescue people in desperation, has continued to form
much of the background of the way Pentecostals in particular and African
Christians in general, perceive, appropriate and experience the concept of ‘salvation’.
As the history of the church in Ghana has well illustrated, the need for
healing, security, and economic well-being continue to occupy the minds of
African Christians. For them this is part and parcel of what they consider as
salvation. Unless these are fully addressed, church members will inevitably seek
succour from other realms. These sources, however, may not necessarily be within
the denominationally acceptable realms.

2Christaller lists
the inhabitants of Akim, Akwamu, Akwapem, Assin, Ashanti, Denkyira, and
Wassaw as Akans speaking the Twi language (J.G. Christaller, Dictionary
of the Asante and Fante Language,Called
Tshi (Twi) based on Akuapem Dialects, 2nd ed.(Basel Evangelical Missionary Society, 1933). Williamson points
out that “the Fante people, and such tribes as the Brongs of north Ashanti
are also, however, from the point of view of language and tribal custom,
political organisation and religious beliefs, Akans.” S. G. Williamson,
Akan Religion and the Christian Faith (Accra: GUP 1965), x.

7
J. G. Christaller, A Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language Called
Tshi (Chwee, Twi), with a grammatical introduction and appendices on the
Geography of the Gold Coast and other subjects ( Basel: Evangelical
Missionary Society, 1881), 342f. Quoted by Kwame Bediako, Theology and
Identity

[15] Abisa is a
religious term, implying “asking” or obtaining or seeking information on a
particular issue, from the (diviner, medicine man, or traditional priests.
“Go to abisa” therefore means consulting the diviner in order to obtain
information on a particular issue (s).

[19] A study of the
contents of prayers at Pentecostal prayer sessions amply demonstrate this.
See E. K. Larbi, “The Development of Ghanaian Pentecostalism: A Study in the
Appropriation of the Christian Gospel in Twentieth Century Ghana Setting
with Special Reference to the Christ Apostolic Church, the Church of
Pentecost, and the International Central Gospel Church.” Ph.D thesis,
University of Edinburgh, 1995. Though Owusu Tabiri spent most of his time
praying for the physical needs of supplicants, the issue of “Accepting
Christ as Lord and personal Saviour”, appears to be his key starting point,
since it is believed that this is the door to God’s blessings.

[20] John Mbiti, “Our
Saviour as an African Experience” in Man and his Salvation: Studies in
Memory of S.G.F. Brandon, ed. Sharpe and Hinnells ( Manchester
University Press, 1973 ), 408.

[30] The belief in the
supernatural aid given by the Holy Spirit is seen as sufficient. Human
effort alone in interpreting the text is thus discounted by some. It was
this understanding that led some members of the group to discount Bible
schools and seminaries.